A Games in the Shadows
by WaterlooRoad
Summary: I never was supposed to live, I just did. They hoped I would die after I saw her killed on T.V. But even then - I was strong. And instead of dying, they gave me something. They gave me the need for revenge. Welcome to the 76th Games! And may the Odds be ever in her favour. AU.
1. Finch

**_[Hey, this is my first fanfic so no flames please! I hope you enjoy the story. If you're going to review (which please do) only useful comments no random criticising! And don't worry the games will get going but this chapter and sort of the next one is to set the scene.]_**

**Chapter 1**

I never was supposed to live, I just did. They hoped I would die after I saw her killed on T.V. But even then-I was strong. And instead of dying, they gave me something. They gave me the need for revenge.

I should probably explain. I was born in the country of Panem in District 5. My mother died when I was born and our dad ditched us before Finch was born. So my sister (Finch) and I were left to care for ourselves in the quiet, lonely place of District 5.

District 5 deals in electricity but that doesn't mean we get any. All the power that we make gets sent to the capital. The people of District 5 don't like the capital, no matter what people from stupid district 11 and 12 think. My sister and I hate the capital though because when we were struggling, what did they do? Nothing, absolutely nothing!

All we would get were looks of pity or sympathy. I didn't want looks, we needed money! But occasionally the mayor or a peacekeeper would drop a coin to us. There was also a boy only a few years older than me, that when he saw me his eyes would light up. He would smile, stutter a bit then always drop in a coin - no matter how small.

But it wasn't enough. I was slowly dying of a mixture of pneumonia and starvation. Finch always gave her scraps to me so she was in a worse state. But we knew at this rate, neither of us would survive till the end of the year. So one day Finch decided to risk her life for us. If she failed, she would be executed. But if she pulled through, we would survive the hardship and live to tell the tale.

So one day she left me at home, on death's door and went for it. She snuck into the mayor's house. She somehow got upstairs into a bedroom and stole some small diamonds. She got out of the house but banged into a mysterious woman called Marzi. She traded the diamonds for food/money. Then for the first night of my life, I was full.

So Finch started stealing to survive. When I got to the age of 4 she taught me to as well. In my opinion, we made a good team. I would cause a distraction normally by begging or something similar. While I distracted, she stole something. And then off to Marzi and we were able to eat that night.

We were only caught a few times, but our peacekeepers are easy-going because we're such a small district. The main thing is though, we survived, without anybody else's help. We both joined secret anti-capitol rebellion groups, but I knew when the leader of the group was assassinated that we weren't safe anymore.

Finch, 12 then, trained as an apprentice at the plant to get some honest coin. We (generally) stopped our raids and the peacekeepers didn't notice us as much. We started to settle in with the rest of the district. I gained some friends from the local school. The money was decent and got us for food,water and basic clothes but no treats. It wasn't as much as we normally got from the raids but it was enough to keep us going. I tried to help get some of the money, but being only 6 years old, they rejected me.

Life was good and happy until one day when I was 9 years old. Finch was 15 and had become an apprentice(but still did raids with me on free days.) Anyway the day that my luck started to turn around on was reaping day. Every reaping day, I would watch, behind the barrier as Finch would stand with the other girls her age. She never got picked though and as a reward we would have a massive celebrations afterwards.

But on that day, it was her name that was called. I screamed, begging somebody to volunteer. But this wasn't a career district and when the escort "Saskee" asked for volunteers. The wind was the only noise that could be heard. I would have volunteered for her if I had been older. But I was only 9 so all I could do was to watch helplessly. As they carted her off, I knew the reaping had been fixed.

They let me talk to her for a few minutes but there are so many things I had wished I had said. I gave her a bracelet I had made for her birthday (two weeks to go) as a district token. Then all we did was cry before I got dragged out of the room.

As I watched her games I was traumatized. I stayed awake, ditching school to watch the games. Everytime she took a risk I cried. Everytime a tribute passed nearby I held my breath. Everytime she got injured, even fell over, I screamed. But I knew whatever happened I could not help her, she was on her own.

In the end, I knew she stood no hope. How could she survive Cato or Thresh? How could she defeat the two star-crossed lovers in the race for sponsors?

But, for a small moment when I saw her determined smile, I had belief that maybe against all odds she could prevail. That foxface, as she had been nicknamed for her slyness, could conquer all doubts and become victor.

But it was too good to be true. Thanks to those idiots from District 12 - my sister lay motionless on the floor, dead. And that was the moment I changed. I ignored my friends, rejected any help. And I even hissed at the peacekeepers when they walked past me.

When they sent back her body, I was the only one at her funeral. I buried her underneath a willow tree by the pond. Rather than crying, I stood still and whispered,

" I will avenge you Finch. I will destroy those who destroyed you. I will destroy the star-crossed lovers from district 12 for taking your life. I will destroy the game-makers who watched your death. I will destroy the capital for egging on the games. I will avenge you."

I turned and left, my ginger hair flipped behind me and my eyes glowed green. I felt invisible yet totally vulnerable as I set off for revenge.

**_[ Did you like it? I hope you did! If you have any questions or suggestions please review. I would love to know how I could improve. I'll update soon]_**


	2. A Failed Rebellion Leads to Reaping Day

**[Thanks to ScruffyBear27 for Reviewing! Enjoy the Chapter. It gets more into the action now. P.S. I don't own anything but my own ideas. **

**P.P.S. I can't remember if I mentioned this but the narrator is a girl called Rain Shadow.]**

**Chapter 2**

I nearly couldn't watch the end of the games. But I held myself firmly, and watched. I glared at all the tributes as they slowly ticked to their deaths. The scam that District 12 played infuriated me. How could they both survive? I was looking forward to seeing at least one of them die. preferably the boy, Peeta. They killed my sister!

I saw the star-crossed lovers leaving a wake of rebellion wherever they went. But I hated them still. It was my job to bring down the capital, not theirs. When they arrived for the victory parade, I simply glared at them in my pen of Finch's family (only me). Katniss tried to joke about how she called Finch, Foxface. But I continued to give them hostile looks. Peeta looked awkward and they left very quickly.

The head peacekeeper saw. And for a split-second I thought I was a goner. The hisses he had received from me plus this. Well lets just say I braced myself for imminent death. Luckily though, he just smiled like I amused him and turned his eye to somebody else. I had got off, this time...

I didn't try to watch the quarter-quell. But they forced me to. The tributes/ victors from our own district died early on. I think our male tribute was actually the first to die. But I didn't focus on that. I watched the "lovers" struggle through.

For some reason everybody believed their story that Katniss was pregnant. They gossiped and "aww"ed. I scoffed and rolled my eyes.

The most annoying thing was that for some reason, certain tributes were offering their own lives to rescue them. Why couldn't anybody have sacrificed themselves for Finch? Why only these two?

The arena ended abruptly and shockingly. But I wasn't particularly bothered. I was interested in the fact though that Peeta had been kidnapped. I know I must sound mean but they deserved it.

I watched the rebellion unfurl. It started off in districts 3,4 and 8. Then 12 started but was soon demolished by the firebombs. Our district joined soon after. The riots out in the streets, the rationing of basic items and the deaths. I took no part in either side. Which was good for me because unlike most of my neighbours, I wasn't killed.

There was a brief time of peace. Katniss killed President Snow and a new president come to take charge. Everybody had thought that we would have a new, long era of happiness and fairness. We thought that the games would never return. But that never lasted. Because the capital had been working undercover to regain their rule. And one day they used our vulnerable point against us - the Mockingjay.

The rebellion collapsed after two years when I was 12. Katniss and Peeta along with a few other soldiers had been blown up in an apartment that was mined. With no mockingjay to lead them, the rebels surrendered. Some of the leaders of the Rebellion were executed. Though for the sake of dwindling population they let the rest survive.

I felt sympathy for their loved ones since I had experienced the loss that they had felt. But they were 6 districts away, I couldn't exactly chat to them. So I just watched the panicked chaos of the rebels as they tried to disguise themselves as capital lovers.

The capital managed to gain control of all the districts. I had many thoughts on this but as the peacekeepers marched strictly through the streets, I knew my raids had come to an end.

President Snow had been assassinated in the war and had been replaced by President Phoenix. President Phoenix was a young man in his twenties and had gold spirals on his face to look like feathers. His wife, the first lady, was acting as head game-maker.

On the night of his coronation, the population of district 5 was forced outside to look at the mega-screen in the square. President Phoenix looked slyly into the camera. As he took his title he gave a speech,

" Hello citizens of Panem. I am your new president. I will not stand for any rebels and if caught you will be executed. I am going to make a few changes from Snow's reign. The hunger games shall return. But each year shall be special. This year the siblings of the tributes of the 74th games shall be reaped. And may the Odds be ever in your favour."

I gasped loudly, I could be going into the arena.

The crowds turned to face me, a 14-year-old boy called "Solar" and a set of 17-year-old twins. Solar and the twin's brother had been the male tribute from 5 against Finch. If I remember right, he was killed in the bloodbath. The family had seemed so lost, I felt bad for them but at least they had a mum and dad. I didn't even get that.

The four of us shuffled awkwardly out of the square, having knowledge we were being gossiped about. I looked over at the other kids I would be facing. I was against the female twin called "Ellie". I know she wouldn't volunteer for me so if I was picked - I was screwed. I kept calm even though I knew the capital would take my raids from childhood and punish me in the arena.

I knew though in the end I was only 12. A 12-year-old has never won the games, the youngest victor was 14. And that was Finnick Odair, a famous rebel. He wasn't executed though, he had to face worse. He had to become the commentator of the games. In my opinion, that is the worst fate to get. To relive painful memories. Mental ouch!

The reaping was very quick. It seemed to happen in a few minutes not hours. We (the siblings) were shuffled into two queues, boys and girls. They took our blood which I admit was a bit painful for a 12-year-old. They placed us into two pens. I stood next to Ellie, trying to look strong because the camera's were rolling.

Our escort Saskee tottered to the middle of the stage. She leaned forward and spoke into a microphone on the stage,

" Hello and Welcome! Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favour. The capital has given us a video to show you." She shuffled to the edge of the stage so we could watch the video about the dark days ect.

We all looked sleepily at the screen. Everybody had seen the video before so we all looked behind to the rest of the population standing behind a fence. They all looked relieved, some even happy. I will never understand that: happiness, that's just cruel to the kids to be reped. I, of course had no family so I just observed everybody's emotions.

I looked over the gap to see Solar. We looked over to each other and smiled. I rolled my eyes and gestured to the screen. He just winked. Suddenly, I hoped that I didn't have to compete against him. I looked back up to the stage as the video faded away and Saskee tottered back to the microphone.

" Well, wasn't that interesting. I love that video. Finding out about our country's history."

She smiled, expecting somebody to agree with her. After a small pause, she seemed to get that everybody wanted to get this over and done with. So she stalked over to the girls bowl with the slips in. I had my name in the bowl five times for tesserae. And Ellie had it in five times. We had an equal chance apart from the fact that the capital wanted to kill me.

" First, the girls." She smiled widely at Ellie and I. I glared back. If only looks could kill, she would be gone already. So anyway, Saskee elegantly placed her hand into the bowl. She moved her fingers around and picked up a slip of paper. She picked it up and glided to the middle. Then she said a name,

" Rain Shadow." I gulped nervously and stumbled to the stage. Ellie sighed, relieved. I leapt up the steps and sat down in a seat to the left of Saskee. I could faintly hear her ask for volunteers but the only response was my frightened tapping with my foot.

She turned to the boys. I wasn't particularly listening but I heard Solar called. His brother volunteered for him. Then I had to walk over to him and shake his hand. But by now, I was hallucinating.

" You're tributes! Rain Shadow and Eric Panges!"

**[ Do you like it? Please Review! I'm not going to update unless I really feel like it unless I get 3+ Reviews. So please review if you're interested.]**


	3. Goodbye District 5

**[Thanks to my reviewers: ScruffyBear27 and Sweet Nothing :)**

**Over 2,000 words! Extra long chapter! Hopefully that'll mean extra reviews? Anyway Enjoy :D**

**Also I don't own Hunger Games!]**

**Chapter 3**

The peacekeepers dragged us away. I could hear Eric yelling his goodbyes to Ellie and Solar. They pushed us forward and separated us into two rooms. I knew Eric was getting visitors now. But having no family or friends after the 74th games, I just sat and mulled things over.

My mind filled with questions. Who am I up against? Who would my mentor be? All our victors died in the quarter-quell, didn't they? What will I wear for the parade? Will the audience like me? Should I pretend to be friendly or evil? What weapons will I be good at? What will my training score be? Will I survive the bloodbath? Will I die? Could I possibly survive?

I calmed myself down by just thinking: I'll find out the answers as I come to the situations. I smile and pace to the door and silently I open the door. I put my eye to the door and see a few peacekeepers standing guard of the two rooms. Eric's door is opened and Solar, Ellie and his parents are pushed out of the room by peacekeepers. Solar looks over to my door and sees my eye poking out. He frowns and opens his mouth to say something so I have to react quickly. I hurriedly shut the door and scurry to the other side of the room.

I look quickly to the window. Can I escape? Would they shoot me and get it over with quickly? Or would they drag me back to the games? If I did survive where would I go? Finch one time told me about a world outside the district. Maybe I could escape to there. But my dreams are shattered as the door opens.

A peacekeeper walks into the room. He sits down next to me casually. He says hello but I ignore him. He turns my shoulders towards him so I'm facing him. He lifts his peacekeeper's helmet so I can see his face. He is about 21 and has dark brown hair, grey eyes and faint stubble. But the main thing I notice is he has a long, red whip scar on his face.

I turn towards him, realising something,

"You're not from district 2." He smiles and shakes my hand,

"I was from 12. Hawthorne, Gale Hawthorne." I raise my eyebrow. How is someone from 12 a peacekeeper. I want to trust him but I know I can't. He adds somehow knowing my indecision, "It was my punishment for being a rebel. But forget that, it's my job to mentor you this year."

Suddenly, I remembered who "Gale Hawthorne" was. He was one of the famous rebels, Katniss's best friend. And he was my mentor. I grimaced and looked away. I felt sorry for him though, becoming a peacekeeper when that is everything you're fighting against.

He stood up and headed towards the door. All I could do was to follow him. He looked around to check I was there. I stood in the shadows so he couldn't see my face. He gasped as he realised something,

"You're Foxface's sister!"

"Genius." I mutter sarcastically under my breath. I say it softly so he can't hear.

"They killed her." I say coldly. He smirked. Was he laughing at me?

" Try being like your sister then. Mysterious. It will help you win." I smirked back at him. I like him, even though he was friends with her. He understands me. Only Finch could understand me but now I have Gale. Probably for less than a week then I'll be dead but honestly as long as I go down fighting. I really don't care.

He leads me out into the rest of the district. I keep a straight face and we get to the train quickly. Tears start to well but in a "I need to do my shoelaces" move, I brush them out my eyes. I stand back up looking at my fellow neighbours coldly. I can't believe not one of them bothered to say goodbye. So I blink once then breath slowly and walk forward even though my legs want to run away, screaming. I probably won't come back but I don't care. It's not like I actually fit in!

I hear somebody whistle in the crowds. I look back to my old district. Solar catches my eye and waves. He throws something at me. I jump and catch it. It's Foxface's bracelet. They gave it to me after her death. It has a sticky note attached,

_"For her. Your token for the Games."_

I thank him mentally then pull of the note and put it in my pocket. I slip the bracelet onto my wrist. Then turn back towards Solar. I smile then turn and board the train. A thought crosses my mind. How did he know about the bracelet and how did he get it? I brush the thought away. If I keep on thinking weird questions like that in the games - I'll be killed. Bracing myself for the worst but what I see shocks me.

It's beautiful. There is huge chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The tables are made from smooth mahogany and the seats even have cushions. Cushions! I could never even have a cushion on my bed let alone on a chair!

Saskee glares at me then turns away to Eric. I raise my eyebrow. She really doesn't like me for some reason. I think I'm too much of a pessimist for her liking. So if she was the game-maker I would die in the bloodbath for sure. So I quietly hiss at her so nobody hears but us. Then I attempt (and fail) to look innocent and scurry over to Eric and Gale.

After my amazement of the train, Gale takes me into another compartment where Eric, Saskee and the other mentor is sitting in front of a t.v. I know what we are going to watch and I'm extremely nervous. The reapings of the other districts. This is the time to see my competition. This when I first see the other tributes as enemies. The hunger games start now.

I watch carefully trying to take everything in. Even with my brains, it's hard to remember everyone. But I think I remembered most of the important ones. The variety is shocking, the most striking thing is how much each tribute looks like their sibling.

From District one there is loads of children waiting in the pens, not a few. More like ten or twenty. Their escort picks a girl almost identical to Glimmer aged 16. Her name is Star. A huge boy with the same eyes as Glimmer volunteers, he's 17. His name is Geo. I notice how lucky Marvel's parents are: they don't have to watch any more of the children die this year.

From District 2 there is about seven children in each pen even though non-siblings asked on purpose to be put in the reaping. But of course, this was a punishment for us and they weren't allowed. For the girls, a girl called Thunder is picked. She doesn't look much like Clove but they both have the same sadistic smile. But she is only 15 so not so much of a threat. A male of 18 (Cato's brother) steps forward to volunteer and has to fight one of Clove's brother to get to compete. Cato's brother wins though by throwing Clove's brother of the stage where apparently he died. The danger from this is definitely Dash.

From District 3 there is two weedy little kids called Violet and Bulb. One is 13 and the other 14. I doubt they'll survive the bloodbath. But then I probably won't either.

From District 4 there is a weedy girl called Daisy who is 15. The male though is called Jack and is very strong. He volunteered with ease and nearly broke Daisy's hand from shaking it. Alongside Dash they are the two to beat.

From District 5, there was Eric and I. The commentators don't think I'd last long but are interested in Eric. But I'm determined to show them different.

From District 6 there was two kids that looked so fragile that you could probably kill them by pushing them over. I think one of them actually cried. Definitely bloodbath kills.

From District 7 there was a girl who looked pretty fierce called Bark. I would guess she was about 16. Not my biggest competition but not to be underestimated. The boy just looked arrogant. I think his name was Mike or something similar to that.

From District 8, I can't remember the boy's name. The girl was 13 and looked like she was simply going on a summer holiday. Her name was Sally. Idiot in my point of view. The boy made no impression on me.

From District 9, I can't remember the names. But the girl looked weak and silly. And the boy looked fairly mediocre. Nothing too important.

From District 10 there was masses of children to be reaped. The boy they first picked they found had been killed that morning. Which just freaked me out. In the end, they reaped a nervous boy of 12 called Billy. The girl's was simpler and they picked a friendly, happy girl of 14 called Mary.

In District 11 it was confusing, there was no brothers so they had to get cousins to be reaped as well. Rue had one little sister of 12 who was reaped called Sapphire because of her blue eyes. The boy was 17 and was the tallest of all the tributes so far. His name was something like Venus. Venus looked exactly like a wild beast trying to terrify his victims. And I was terrified! I liked the girl just by looking at her and thought about maybe we could be allies? Sadly, I doubt she'd survive the bloodbath.

In District 13 (or 12 as it was being called now in District 12's loss) Prim was reaped. I immediately felt sorry for her - that was so fixed. I mentally agreed to be allies with her if we met in the games and if she survived the bloodbath. But at least she looked like a strong, 15-year-old. So even if I died in the bloodbath, you never know. She could have Katniss's archery skills. They had to use Peeta's cousins as the men. The chosen boy looked identical to Peeta, was 12 years old and was called Josh.

We turned off the Tv then trooped to another carriage and eat our dinner. I had a curry and apple crumble which was amazing. Eric and I stayed shocked, how were we supposed to beat some of those tributes. They were beasts! Some looked obviously like bloodbath kills and no opposition like the kids from 6 and 9. So really a mixed bag.

When Saskee left to get "a good night's sleep darling." we found some actual news. They had to speak in code because the train was bugged but eventually we both found out the truth. I figured out the code easily, thanks to my family's gene of logical/lateral thinking. But Eric took a tiny bit longer to figure it out.

The mentors names were Gale (who I had already learnt) and Boggs. They had both been important rebels and good friends of Katniss. After the rebellion had sunk they had been recruited as mentors for their punishment. We found that other caught rebels had been turned into mentors for districts with no living victors. They both agreed to try to help at least one of us win even though they disagreed with the games.

They told us what had happened to some of the other victors. Katniss and Peeta had been executed as they were the faces of the rebellion. Finnick had been torn from his family and made a commentator of the games. Annie had gone back to madness, separated from Finnick and made a mentor. Several other victors had been tortured/ brainwashed and turned into mentors for their districts. No victor had been left alone to live a happy life.

On that happy note **(SARCASM ALERT!)**, we headed off to bed early to mull over the information we had just been given. That was when I heard the tapping on the window and the drops of blood rolling down the glass...

**[Did you like it? Please review comments, questions and suggestions!]**


	4. My Prep Team are Idiots

I nearly couldn't sleep after the window incident. It had just freaked me out. In the end, I had to wake an avox to get them to clear the blood up. The avox looked very worried at seeing the sign but cleared it up anyways.

I didn't tell Gale, Boggs or Eric but I think the blood was in the shape of a bird. Could it be possible that it was a mockingjay? Could the rebellion still be alive? Not possible though, or they would have been blown up.

With no actual blood infront of me that I could see it calmed me a little. But even that didn't stop the nightmares when I got back to sleep.

The train pulled into the capital just before I woke up. I was shook up and in my sleepiness I remember slapping the person, unknowing who it was. I heard an amused laugh and I opened my eyes.

Gale was standing at the end of my bed with his hands on his hips giving a "I'm very annoyed with you" look. I smiled and pulled myself up. Gale smiled and left me in private.

I got dressed quickly and headed to breakfast where I managed to scoff a slice of toast down before being sent on my way by Gale. Gale and I walked in late. "Hey Saskee!" Gale said upon entrance. Saskee charged (the fastest pace you can go with 14 inch heels on) towards us and stopped right in front of me. She started ranting at me about her timetable but I just went off into a flashback of the 74th Hunger Games.

~Flashback~

Peeta ran around loudly picking berries. Finch watches him from the shadows.

"Katniss! Katniss! Where are you?" Peeta shouted "I've picked some berries to eat for lunch! Katniss?"

He looks concerned, and looks around him worredly. He drops most of the berries he was picking on the floor but shoves a few in his pocket. He looks around once more and runs off calling,  
"KATNISS! KATNISS! KATNISS!"

He runs out of sight and Finch creeps in. She listens for footsteps then leaps over to the berries and picks a few up. She leaps back into the shadows and nibbles them hungrily.

Her face goes from relieved, to hurt, to confused then finally to shocked. She grabs her throat and tries to spit the berries out but it's too late. She collapses to the floor. Then her body spasms then lays motionless. her eyes are glassy with berry smears around her mouth.

Then the cannon fires.

~Flashback Over~

I scream loudly. I've just flashbacked my sisters death. Gale realises what has vaguely happened and dragged me aside. He whispers comforting things into my ear and I relax.

I turn back to Saskee who is scowling at me. She pouts and says bluntly, "Time to introduce yourselves to the capital. Be friendly." The last sentence is directed at me but I just ignore it. She opens the door and with Gale, Eric and his mentor behind him, I follow scowling.

The capital crowd screams our names and I see my face on a board above. I look mysterious and dangerous even through my age. I look exactly like Finch did. I see Eric waving happily to the crowd. How can he suck up to them just like that? After what our district has been through?

We walk through the crowds until we finally reach the training centre. Eric's mentor who I learn is called Boggs scans a card and we enter the building. I can hear a few calls of Eric's name as the door slams shut behind us.

Eric and I share a look that shows how we feel about the support. We are both shocked at the noise and ignorance of the people living in the Capital. I think when we travelling I saw somebody with whiskers and ginger fur. I mean I like some of the stray cats but seriously? Whiskers?

The whole party of us is whisked up into a seriously cool lift and we stop on the 5th floor. When we open the doors I am flabagasted. It's huge! It has a dining hall, lounge, separate bedrooms for everybody (with ensuites) and even a camera room so we can see what's happening back in the districts.

But we don't get to stay for long. We are whisked onto the ground floor where are stylists and prep teams are waiting. I think my prep team is the weirdest ever though. One female is called Lavinsha and has stripy orange and white skin like a tiger. Another female is called Anastasia and is blue all over apart from a white spots on her limbs. Finally the last stylist is called Severino and he has grass all over him so he's furry! On the grass there is flowers growing which I really don't get.

Anyway they tell me to strip which is awkward but I do. The only thing going through my head is "I'll never see these capital freaks dead or alive- so they can't blackmail me or anything."

Then the torture begins. They start by waxing my skin of every single hair that belongs on my legs. I scream and struggle trying to resist the pain. I even hit Severino in my panic. Once he had been hit he did it a lot more roughly than the other peelings (of the waxing strips). When they finished, I was panting from the struggles to escape I had made. Anastasia just sighed loudly. They put lotion all over me then they started getting more personal.

Lavinsha did my face. She plucked, applied, dabbed, padded and smoothed. It may have looked good and was a total transformation but it just stung and itched my face.

Anastasia did my nails. She filed them, smoothed them, painted them and even decorated them. I didn't even know you could do that with nails. Normally all I had were stumps of nail from when I bit them after nightmares. So in the end they had to put on something called a "false nail" which was basically glued on extra nail. I'm not going to tell anyway but I personally thought they were quite cool.

Serverino did my hair. In my opinion, they could have jazzed up my hair a little. It was a total anti-climax. He just brushed my hair or tried to before his brush snapped in my wild, knotty, hair. He hissed at me and put my hair into a messy bun and walked off. Lavinsha threw some sparkles on my hair which ended up nearly choking me.

My prep team were complete idiots. They squeaked comments on how they thought I was "very pretty" and "had potential". But if they are going to say things like that they should at least lie a bit better.

Then they actually had the cheek to say "Try not to die, I really want to design another outfit for you." What did she think I was going to do? Kill myself on purpose?!

The actual games is probably easier compared to that experience. I was screaming all the way through but in the end they finish. I have to admit, I did look quite pretty. Not that I told them that though. The stylists called it "Beauty Base Zero". No matter how nice I looked though - I am never doing that again!

Soon they send my stylist Gengi in. She is the most normal person I've seen but even she has multicoloured spirals on her face. She has some of the capital features though. Such as tattoo's, slimming surgery and an extremely high voice. She looks at me and smiles warmly at me.

"I know what to do with you." She leans into a cupboard and picks something out and hands it to me, "Get into the outfit. No complaining! Just do it." She barks briskly at me. I raise my eyebrow but do as she says.

I put on the outfit it's a plain black dress that shows my figure. But the special thing about it though is once Gengi has flicked a switch. Suddenly the outfit has streaks of electricity flashing and disappearing all over the dress. I have to admit it, it's amazing!

Suddenly I'm looking foward to the parade. I can take revenge for my sister whilst making an impression. So wearing the outfit, I thank Gengi and head towards the tribute waiting area.

When I got there, the tributes were alot scarier up close. The career pack was already forming and boy, did they look brutal. And the male from 11 just glared gloomily at everyone apart from his district partner. The kids from 6 looked just as pathetic though on tv though. But mainly, I knew I stood no chance of even getting past the bloodbath.

I have to admit the outfits are gorgeous. I won't go into huge details but I'll give a quick review.

District 1 wore gold silk suits/dresses. They looked good but nothing compared to what was coming after them. District 2 went for a greek gods look. They looked stunning with white togas and gold brooches. Not paticularly imaginative but effective. I had no idea what that had to do with masonary though maybe the brooch?

District 3 wore silver suits with wires being used as a sort of a wool. Also gears rotated and creaked. It could have looked good with better tributes. But to be blunt, they didn't look nice so in total it just looked tacky. District 4 wore blue sequined suits/dresses that glinted in the lights. Not creative but the tributes pulled off the outfit well.

District 5, well Eric wore the same as me. I think we looked good but I seriously have no idea. All I can say is I think the cheering got louder when we were announced. District 6 wore black boiler suits with wheels on. Not a success for that district is all I'll say. District seven was dressed up as trees for about the 76th year in a row. The audience just laughed at them.

District 8 wore outfits made of lots of different fabrics. It looked good on the girl because of her blond hair. But just looked childish on the boy like fancy dress gone wrong. District 9's was embarresing for everybody. The stylists tried to be original by dressing them as pieces of grain. It didn't work. District 10 wore outfits with lots of little animal designs on. I didn't like it but the audience did.

District 11 wore decent clothes. Venus wore a deep, green suit with a red apple poking out of the pocket. It made him look three times as dangerous, I admit. Sapphire looked beautiful in a turquoise dress with shoes with apples on and apple jewellery. The audience cheered really loudly for them.

District 12/3 looked bad on Josh as he just wore a boiler suit to show the coal side of the new district. Prim looked adorable though in a flashing green dress that read in black letters: "WATCH OUT! NUCLEAR!" to show the nuclear side of the district. It sounds weird but she just looked cute yet threatening. In total a success for Prim's stylist.

All I learnt was that it was going to be a hard battle for sponsers.

**[Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please spend a second of your time to review. I'll try and post another chapter before Wednesday. Then I'll be back at school. Anyway- Review! :D ]**


	5. Everyone has a strategy

**[Sorry I didn't manage to update earlier. I've been busy with sports and homework. This is quite a short chapter-sorry! Please review because I can't improve if you don't tell me what to improve at. Thanks for the people who reviewed on the last chapter.]**

As soon as the parade was over, I met my stylist who said I looked "Wonderful darling. Thanks to my outfit." But I don't really count that as a compliment as she's part of the hunger games and that equals not human. But I smiled weakly trying to hide the fact that I hate them all so much.

Gale comes up behind me with Boggs and Saskee. Boggs pulls Eric aside and whispers something to him, but I can't hear thanks to Saskee. She is clapping her hands and squealing in delight.

The longer she talks, the more screechy she gets. And the more screecy she gets the more I want to punch her. So this speech used utter will-power to stop me from killing her,

" Oh my gosh! You look fabulous. Everybody's talking about you two. They think that Eri- one of you could end up being the victor."

She tries to pretend that she doesn't thinks I'll be dead in a minute. But I know better. So I just scowl fiercly as her as she continues, getting squeakier and squeakier.

" But cupcake, maybe you could smile a little more. You just seemed to so frowny all the way through your prefrormance. You should have copied Eric's style. The audience loved him! Anyway we should heard up for dinner. Lots to do tommorow, first day of training!"

As she walked away Gale and I roll our eyes at her. He whispers telling me that we'll talk about tactics after dinner. I grimace, preparing myself for then. I look back behind me. Eric and Boggs have finally come back into the lift behind us. I wonder what they were talking about?

Dinner is fairly uninteresting. Everybody is silent apart from Saskee who is screeching all the reasons why Eric is better than me. But honestly, I don't care. So what? He'll get more sponsors than me. I can survive without sponsors if I have to.

The talk may have left a lot to be desired but the food was AMAZING! I had an amazing spagehtti bolognaise dish. It came with garlic bread, pizza and a range of sauces. In total, delish.

After the meal Eric and I went to settle down for bed. Once we're ready we'll talk to our mentors separately. We walked over to our rooms. I think I am the first tribute in all 76 games who got lost finding the bedrooms. Eventually after walking round the apartment for half an hour, I find it. I see a door that says,

FEMALE TRIBUTE

I open the door cautiously to check this isn't some funny (for them not me) game-maker trap. But it isn't. The whole room is breathtaking. It looks like the whole room is made out of silk. All I can do is stand stunned at the sight. I eventually shake myself back to reality.

I step inside and drop my token on the bed. There is a note waiting on the bed for me. It only contains my agenda. For tonight all I have to do is shower, change then talk to mentors. I get up and head to the ensuite. Shower Time!

I have learnt to never underestimate the shower. That shower does litterally everything. Hot, cold, bubbles, rain, spray and many more. My favourite features was the music and the massage one. It was bliss. If I wasn't looking for victory, I wouldn't mind spending my final moments in the shower.

Finally though I manage to get myself out of the shower. I dry myself (using another shower tool) and wrap a towel round me. I stumble out of the bathroom and head to the wardrobe.

I open the doors but they're firmly shut. I give up until a see a microphone on the doorhandle. Realising the concept of how this worked, I said,

" Comfortable sleeping clothes?"

I had to duck as the door swung open and a pile of fabric flew out and landed on my bed. Straightening up, I admired how cool that was and tried on the clothes. A pair of pyjamas with a lightening bolt on. That had to have been hand picked by my stylist this year.

I walked over to the door and rung a bell for Gale to come in. Time for my strategy talk. I was extremely nervous. What should I try?

Brutal Murderer? No, I wasn't a career just a feeble 12-year-old. I come from district 5 as well, not a career district. All I would get by approching the Career group in the arena would be a painful death.

Controlling? Somebody did that in one of the first games. Definately not for me though, I don't have any talent with words. They would slaughter me on sight. That was if I survived the Bloodbath.

Suck up to the Sponsors? Finnick Odair from District 4 did that but he had to suffer the price. So no way! Also I'm not pretty enough and I hate the capital with a passion (even though the tech is cool).

Fake weakness then strike? Johanna Mason from District 7 did it in 67th Hunger Games. And she won! But no, they already knew I wasn't patcularly afraid at the reaping and I can't act for my life.

It was hopeless, I have no idea what I could try. But hopefully Gale might have an idea.

I sat down on my mint green, silk bed as Gale walked in. He sat down and smiled sadly. He then turned to face me and looked at me expectantly. I pursed my lips and raised my eyebrows. What was he expecting me to say?

Finally he opened his mouth and said,

" I guess there's only one strategy you can try."

I leaned foward eagerly trying to soak in his idea as much as I could. I drag a notebook and pen off the side so I can write the ideas down.

" What? What?"

He leaned back smirking and said one word.

" Foxface."

I drop my pencil on the floor and it snaps on impact. I stutter my next few lines, scared.

"B-but, she had flaws to her plan. She never killed anyone. How do I win without killing?"

"You'll have to kill but the whole point is secretly."

He smiles slyly and walks out, turning off the light on his way. Only calling out one thing as the door closes behind him.

"Night, Night."

**[So did you like it? Do you think Rain Shadow has a chance? What tributes do you think our the most interesting/exciting? Since training is tommorow- should she join an allience or not? Please review! :D ]**


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